Poisonous Algae Take the Blame for Squid Mass Beaching

Poisonous algae now argued to have caused Humboldt squid to beach by the hundreds in California

After hundreds of Humboldt squid washed ashore on Californian beaches within a rather limited time frame, marine biologists and conservationists wished to know exactly what caused these animals to die.

Although nobody can yet point their fingers at the main “culprit” behind this squid mass beaching, preliminary evidence suggests these marine creatures somehow stumbled upon some poisonous algae.

Specialists explains that one such poisonous algae bloom, typically referred to as a red tide, could have caused the squid to lose all sense of direction and head towards the shore rather than remain in the open waters, Huffington Post reports.

“It's not exactly a smoking gun, but it's pretty circumstantial evidence that there is some link,” argues William Gilly, a marine biologist presently working at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, California.